1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of cooking and, more particularly, to an electric heating element for use in a cooking appliance.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In electric cooking appliances, resistance type heating elements are commonly employed to generate a desired temperature within an oven. For instance, conventional electric ovens typically incorporate sheathed, resistance coil heating elements. Actually, separate upper and lower heating elements are traditionally provided adjacent bottom and top walls of an oven cavity for use in connection with baking and broiling functions.
A fair amount of emphasis has been placed in the past on designing electric heating elements in an attempt to enhance the uniform heating of the oven cavity. The electric heating elements used for baking in cooking appliances found on the market today typically assume either a U-shape or a generally M-shape. In each of these arrangements, laterally spaced side leg portions of the heating element extend substantially linearly from a rear portion toward a front portion of the oven cavity.
Although these known arrangements have been used to produce an acceptable flow of heat in the cavity for cooking purposes, there still exists the need for an electric heating element configuration which can be used to develop more uniform heating in an oven cavity. In addition, there exists a need in the art for a reconfigured electric heating element which will enhance the use of the oven cavity for additional cooking operations such as, for example, a toasting operation.